By This is submission of my proposed 2017-18 Leadership Plan for the Hong Kong Hub (copy of the submission made on Top Link on March 5, 2017).
I feel enormously privileged to be part of our special community, and I hope to leverage my experiences as a Shaper and more recently as the Vice Curator to better serve my fellow Shapers.
Areas to address in 2017 in order of priority for our Hub:-
Capacity Building
Our Hub’s greatest assets are its Shapers. I acknowledge that our Shapers are community-minded, ambitious and accomplished as influencers in their existing communities. They have track-records of leadership, and they possess expertise in their fields and networks to make significant contributions. The Curatorship must support and empower Hub members to attain their potential. Such assistance includes helping more Hub members attend World Economic Forum events and SHAPE Conferences, and creating better publicity of Hub initiatives and Shaper activities.
The Curator’s job is to bring out the best from the Shapers for the collective good of the Hub, and Hub engagement is an essential catalyst. We have firm grounds to build on regarding Hub morale and bonds among Shapers, given the superb execution of SHAPE Asia and the high level of Hub activities in 2016. Our Hub needs to maintain the morale and deepen the bonds through well-curated project work and more informal meet ups in 2017.
Capacity building should be a central objective in our recruitment strategy and external stakeholder engagements. We need to act inclusively and proactively not only to ensure quality and diversity in our membership, but also in the business and community partners we engage with. We need to build a community out of our networks, making a home for our aspirations.
Projects
The Hub has generally done well to select and manage projects. There is good consultation within the Hub and alignment of interest, skills and expertise in organising our projects, for example, on youth refugees, human trafficking and foreign domestic helpers. I would like to see that the Curatorship further consult with project teams to ensure effective membership commitment and stakeholder engagement.
The next level of developing better projects requires us to consider how we could create greater impact by selecting and applying appropriate metrics and, where needed, fundraising campaigns to scale up project commitments.
In terms of social impact, Hub projects could be enhanced further from the Hub conducting some soul-searching in understanding its collective core values, conduct and ethics, and how do they reflect upon our mission in Hong Kong society. This aspect should be further explored in retreats and planning sessions.
Governance
Thanks to the work of Edmond and Jess and the continuous reforms led by Sky and Durrie, we have a set of robust protocols and policy structure that are GSC global standard. This covers membership selection and exclusion, intra Hub communication and Shaper accountability. I’ve benchmarked our progress in this area at the Annual Curators’ Meeting 2016 and I am tremendously proud.
The 2017-18 Curatorship must build on our existing achievements and keep our ship full steam ahead by refining how we develop and execute strategies around branding, Shaper transitions and knowledge sharing. We should also continue to improve processes upstream in promoting and managing recruitment exercises, and downstream in on-boarding Shapers post-probation.
In summary, to enhance our Hub, we must strengthen each of four areas, values, governance, engagement, and impact, and develop our activities around them. It’d be my honour if I could serve you in the coming term and take up the mantle of Durrie whose leadership has garnered good international reputation for our Hub, although his achievements would surely be hard to surpass. The high bar set would not dissuade me, however, to strive to better lead Hub operations and to make sure each Shaper is well supported throughout their tenure.
